Roast Approach: Brazil Minas Gerais Luzia

Today's coffee that we are going to approach is the Brazil Minas Gerais Luzia natural processed.  As a quick disclaimer, the goal of sharing this roasting approach is not to give any kind of prescription on how to roast this coffee, but rather to provide you with some ideas of how to approach coffees that may be from similar regions and have undergone similar processing methods.  

Arrival QC:

Green Coffee Apprearance:

Key take aways from the arrival sample - 

This coffee presents as a fairly natural processed coffee from Brazil.  The coffee comes from a large cooperative of producers and will feature multiple coffee varietals in the blend.  As Brazil utilizes very advanced machinery for sorting and grading coffee in their mills, the coffee is a very uniform size.  It should also be mentioned that the natural processing method in Brazil does not present the same fruit forward profile as natural processed coffees that you may have tried from Ethiopia or Central America.  Natural processed coffees from Brazil will have sweet notes of brown sugar, honey, or caramel.  These coffees also tend to have a minimal acidity and heavy body.  For this reason, they are a common component in blends to lend sweetness and body. 

In this particular coffee one can see a uniformity in size and color of the beans.  There is also a slight concave curvature to the beans that may indicate varying degrees of ripeness at the time of picking.  This is a common feature of Brazilian coffees as many large producers utilize mechanical harvesters which strip pick the trees.

This particular coffee was harvested in the fall of 2023 and arrived to the U.S. in January of 2024.  It had been stateside, warehoused, and stored in GrainPro liner for nearly 11 months at the time of roasting.

The Roaster:

For this roast, we'll be using a Proaster 1.5 kilo drum roaster hooked up to natural gas.  Batch size is 500g, approximately 50% of the recommended batch size of 1kg.  I've used a small batch size on this roaster to get closer to mimicking the gas power that you might find on a larger production roaster.  It must always be mentioned that each roaster is different.  The type of probe, placement of probe, and batch size will all influence the way in which bean temperatures are registered in a roaster.  With that said, don't read too much in to the exact temperatures, but look more closely at the theory behind the approach, time spent in different development periods, and rate of rise to get a better idea of how to translate this profile over to your own machine.

The Goal:

For this Roast Approach, I wanted to share how this coffee is preforming under different circumstances.  It often seems that roasting Brazilian coffees is an afterthought for many roasters.  Maybe its because many roasters feel that Brazilian coffees lack complexity and the nuance which can be so exciting to express in a roast.  Or maybe it is because Brazilian coffee is often used as a filler to bring prices down for blends.  Whatever the reason may be, it is often one of the coffees which garners the least attention and poses the biggest conundrum for roasters, despite it frequently being the largest volume coffee used.

I will present two different roasts of this coffee with the goal of showing the variety of flavor possibilities that can be coaxed out.  

The Approach:  Roast #1

For the first roast of this coffee I used my favorite "tried and true" roast profile for Central American coffees.  My goal for this roast was to achieve a roast loss of around 12.5% and a post crack development time of 1:15 minutes.  I also wanted to make minimal changes to the gas and airflow schedules on the coffee during the drying and pre-crack development periods, with a gradual step down in gas application through the post-crack development.  As Brazilian coffees are often used in blends, and frequently blended in pre-roasting, I thought that this would give a good idea of how the Brazil is developing during a roast that may be developed around the other blend components (such as a Central American coffee).  

Sensorially, I was looking to find aromas of a dark toasted marshmallow, but without the carbon smokiness, at the end of the roast.  Visually I was looking for a smooth, milk chocolate brown appearance on the round side of the bean.  First crack is anticipated at 385 F degrees on this machine for this coffee.  

The Roast:

Charge Temp 390, gas at 60% of maximum, airflow damper set to 40%.

Gas remained at 60% until the coffee reached the temperature of 370 degrees F.  With an anticipation of first crack around 385 degrees, the gas was reduced to 40%.  During the roast I used an airflow schedule that I commonly use in my roasting on this machine, with restricted airflow during drying and early Maillard phases and then an increase of airflow as the coffee produces gases and smoke.  My reasoning around this is that I don't like to have the coffee "soak" in the gases that are coming off of the chemical reactions occurring.  I find that I get a cleaner cup and more flavor clarity by using this air schedule.

It became very clear to me as I was approaching first crack that this coffee was going to take off on me.  You can see a spike in the rate of rise that occurs right around first crack on the chart above.  Despite reductions in gas application, the rate of rise did not decline.  When this profile is used with a Central American coffee, I see a steady decline as gas is tapered off.  It was not the case with this Brazil.  This leads me to believe that we are speeding through sugar browning and may be entering into some early stages of carbonization with this roast.  

The roast finished at 410 degrees, total roast time of 8:22 minutes with a post crack development time of 1:25 minutes.  Ending with a 13.7% roast loss.  In evaluating the final roasted coffee, it did appear that there may be some small bits of tipping and facing on the beans, possibly indicative of too high of a charge temp.

The Cup:

Fragrance - Toasted hazelnut, clove, cinnamon

Aroma - Caramel, brown sugar, cinnamon, cooked blackberry, anise, dark chocolate

Cup Notes - Dark caramel sweetness, cocoa powder and hints of cinnamon.  Coffee had a heavy body with minimal acidity.  There was some dryness on the finish.  Bitter notes were present, but did lend themselves to the character of toasted nuts and cocoa powder.  

Additional - This tastes like a very common representation of Brazilian coffee.  A classic "coffee that tastes like coffee".  

The Approach:  Roast #2

For this second roast of the coffee my goal was to create the gradual decline of rate of rise following first crack.  I also wanted the coffee to spend more time in the later stages of Maillard for sugar development.  Overall, I was looking to achieve maximum sweetness and body without entering into the beginning stages of carbonization.  I was also looking to avoid any visual signs of charring roast defects (tipping, facing, or scorching) that this coffee seems more prone to.

The Roast:

To accomplish this, my plan was to first reduce my charge temp and avoid any incidence of tipping or scorching on the coffee.  This coffee seems softer and more prone to quick scorching.  I also provided the coffee with a lower initial gas application to help reduce any incidence of roast defect on this coffee.  A gradual increase in gas application was used through yellowing and the early stages of Maillard.  

In order to address the coffee's tendency to "take off" at first crack, I started my reduction of the heat application even earlier at about 360 degrees.  I then reduced even further to 20% gas at 375 (10 degrees before anticipated first crack).  With this application, I observed that my rate of rise was making a steady and slow decline.  I felt very happy with the steady pace and maintained the 20% gas application through the end of the roast.

Development time on this roast was actually longer than the first roast.  The roast ended at 405 degrees, with a total roast time of 9:55 minutes and 1:36 minutes spent in post crack development.  Total roast loss was 13.2%. 

The Cup:

Fragrance - Butterscotch, marshmallow creme, caramel, orange blossom, hazelnut, honey

Aroma - Marshmallow, vanilla, hazelnut, floral honey, dark chocolate, orange blossom

Cup Notes - The coffee had a soft, silky and creamy body that leaned to a medium-heavy.  Flavors were pronounced caramel, honeycomb, marshmallow, marzipan, milk chocolate, and floral notes of orange blossom and Manuka honey. Overall very balanced, extremely sweet, and soft honey florals added an unexpected complexity.

Bringing It Home:

In roasting this coffee, it was clear that it did not preform in the same manner that a Central or even other South American coffee might.  The coffee is a bit soft and requires a more delicate application of gas in order to keep it from venturing into the stages of carbonization.  

For the Hacea Roasting Championships, this exact coffee was used as one of the mystery coffees for roasters.  During our evaluation of the coffee entries, the signature cinnamon spice notes (from Roast 1 profile) were very prevalent.  The spice, dark chocolate, toasted nuttiness, and bitters from carbonization can be overpowering in a blend.  If those deep flavors are what you are aiming for (especially in medium-dark roast blends), this Brazil will easily provide them.  

Roasters looking to utilize this Brazilian coffee for it's sweetness, body, and (of course) affordability can find success drawing out the sweetness by extending a gentle drying phase, punching it with heat right after drying, then pulling back the heat application well ahead of first crack.  

This coffee is really an all-purpose gem for any coffee program.  It will preform fantastically as espresso due to its strong sweetness and subtle acidity, while also being an approachable easy drinking coffee for the masses.  I always encourage roasters to spend as much time and care in the sourcing and profile development of their blend components (especially Brazil) as they do on the fun exciting limited offerings.  If you want to make the biggest impact (and upgrade) to your coffee program, put the time into the coffee that you use the most.

Interested in trying this coffee on your own roaster?  You can pick it up from our website here, or contact your wholesale rep for full bag purchases.  Brazil Minas Gerais Luzia begins arriving fresh in December/January.  

Happy roasting!

Have you roasted this coffee yourself?  Be sure to leave a comment below with your own experiences on this coffee.